Braised pork with plums

Braised pork with plums

Meltingly tender meat in a spicy, fruity sauce, this meal is guaranteed to impress

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

plus marinating

Method

  1. Cut the pork into big pieces about the length of your thumb and twice as wide. Put into a bowl or food bag, and add the wine, soy sauces, half the ginger, half the garlic and half the chilli. Marinate for at least 1 hr or up to 24 hrs.
  2. Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3, then heat the oil in a large casserole. Tip in half the spring onions, remaining ginger and garlic, the star anise, five-spice powder and cinnamon. Fry gently until fragrant and soft. Stir in the sugar, turn up the heat, then lift the pork from the marinade and turn in the oniony mix for about 3 mins until the meat is just sealed but not browned. Tip in the marinade, tomato purée and stock, give it a stir, cover, then braise in the oven for 2 hrs.
  3. After the first hr is up, add the plums to the pan. Take the lid off and carry on the cooking, uncovered. The meat should be completely tender, turning golden brown where it breaks the surface of the sauce. Spoon off any excess fat from the surface, then scoop the meat and plums carefully from the pan with a slotted spoon. Turn up the heat and boil the sauce for 5-10 mins until reduced and slightly syrupy. Return everything to the pan, gently warm through, then scatter the rest of the spring onions over the top to serve.
Try

IF YOU WANT TO USE A SLOW COOKER...

Adapt this recipe by preparing the pork according to step 1. Then cook the spring onions, remaining ginger, garlic, chilli, cinnamon, star anise, five-spice, sugar and 2 tbsp tomato purée. Fry until soft then add the pork, frying until sealed. Put it all into the slow cooker with the marinade, cover and cook for 8-9 hours on Low. Skim off surface fat halfway through. Stir in the plums an hour before the end. Scoop out the plums and meat then make the sauce and serve according to step 3.

530 kcalories, protein 40g, carbohydrate 11g, fat 36 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 1g, sugar 10g, salt 2.87 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, October 2009.

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Results 21-40

  • Binder photo Chicken

    06 January 2010

    Chicken rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo Ursula

    07 January 2010

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  • Binder photo Louisa

    19 January 2010

    Louisa rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo fancypants

    23 February 2010

    fancypants rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo Fluffy

    22 March 2010

    Fluffy rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo Mary Chappell

    06 May 2010

    Mary Chappell rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo novice

    20 August 2010

    novice rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo Ruthy

    21 August 2010

    Ruthy commented on this recipe

    When does the remaining chopped chilli get added?

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  • Binder photo judyY

    02 September 2010

    judyY commented on this recipe

    Why does your "Add to your Binder " system not work at times. I find it very erratic.

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  • Binder photo Foodmonster

    14 September 2010

    Foodmonster rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Great recipe, one of my cold weather favourites! I have made it few times now and it has never failed. I use sherry instead of rice wine as it's often recommended as a substitute.

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  • Binder photo Mark

    26 September 2010

    Mark commented on this recipe

    Maybe it's just me but I'm preparing this meal now and find the method a little vague. Are the garlic cloves left whole or chopped or crushed ? Is the ginger sliced or grated ? As a cook I like to follow the instructons on the basis they have been tried and tested to get the best result

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  • Binder photo dogsdinner

    14 October 2010

    dogsdinner rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    What can I add? Delicious!

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  • Binder photo Joanne Campbell

    21 October 2010

    Joanne Campbell rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Gorgeous and cheffy friends loved it.

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  • Binder photo screamer

    27 October 2010

    screamer rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Cooked this for a dinner party and it was fantastic. I cooked it in my slow cooker for about 7 hours, including the plums. I also substituted the oil for a few sprays of FryLight Olive Oil and lo.. it became an almost sin free meal. Very nice indeed.

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  • Binder photo Poletta

    30 November 2010

    Poletta rated this recipe

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  • Binder photo julieb

    01 December 2010

    julieb rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Really delicious. Didn't have any soy sauce so used Ume plum seasoning which worked beautifully. Plums disappeared into the sauce and the meat was really tender. Will definitely do this one again

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  • Binder photo honeybee

    08 December 2010

    honeybee rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    Very tasty and quite unusual. Smelled gorgeous while cooking. Only quibble is that it was hard to keep track of all the ingredients - half of several items in the marinade, so the other half waiting around overnight. Had half the chilli left over at the end but had put all the spring onions in earlier. Next time would add everything to the marinade and be done with them!

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  • Binder photo judith

    12 December 2010

    judith commented on this recipe

    this is a fantastic dish - tasty and easy to prepare! My 17 year old son's favourite!!

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  • Binder photo cat

    04 January 2011

    cat rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    after reading everyones review of this recipe i couldnt resist doing this. i cooked it before christmas for some friends and we all thought it was excellent. the smell of the food cooking when they arrived was very welcoming. the kids loved it too. 10 out of 10

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  • Binder photo Carol

    07 February 2011

    Carol commented on this recipe

    made this for a dinner party yesterday & it went down a treat although next time will add the plums in much later as they fell apart but the whole dish was absolutely gorgeous, meat was so tender full of flavour. Cooking it again for another party!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Serves 8

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 25 mins

Cook time

Cook 2 hrs

plus marinating

Ingredients

  • about 1.6kg/3lb 8oz pork shoulder
  • 5 tbsp rice wine
  • 5 tbsp light soy sauce for flavour, 1 tbsp dark for colour
  • generous thumb-size piece fresh root ginger
  • 5 garlic cloves
  • 1 red chilli , deseeded and finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • bunch spring onions , finely sliced
  • 2 star anise
  • 1 ½ tsp five-spice powder
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 2 tbsp sugar , any type
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 6 ripe plums , halved and stoned
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530 kcalories, protein 40g, carbohydrate 11g, fat 36 g, saturated fat 13g, fibre 1g, sugar 10g, salt 2.87 g

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